The digitalization of the pig sector continues to advance and has now reached fattening farms, a key phase in pork production. The use of automatic feeders and other sensors provides valuable data on the animals’ feeding behavior, paving the way for more efficient and sustainable management.
Despite advancements in digitalization, only 2.5% of fattening farms in Catalonia currently have automatic feeders. The Agrotecnio and University of Lleida project, “Automatic Feeders and Artificial Intelligence to Analyze the Feeding Behavior of Fattening Pigs and Their Efficiency,” aims to contribute to the digital transformation of the pig sector, enhancing its competitiveness and sustainability through technological innovation. The Centre d’Estudis Porcins (CEP) also collaborates on the project.
This pioneering project seeks to apply artificial intelligence technologies to analyze the data collected by automatic feeding machines. This analysis will allow for the development of predictive models capable of forecasting animal growth, optimizing their nutrition, and improving production efficiency. The implementation of these tools can have a direct impact on cost reduction, animal welfare improvement, and minimization of environmental impact.
Project Benefits:
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Optimization of Feeding: Analyzing the feeding behavior of pigs allows for diet adjustments based on their actual needs, improving efficiency and reducing nitrogen and phosphorus excretion by up to 30%.
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Improved Health and Animal Welfare: Individual monitoring of each animal facilitates early detection of diseases and welfare issues, enabling quick action to ensure their health.
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Positive Economic Impact: Better prediction of animal growth can help farmers optimize their management and improve profitability. For example, reducing the fattening period by one week in a farm of 1,000 pigs can result in savings of up to €3,000.
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Planning and Efficiency in the Production Chain: The use of real-time data can benefit other players in the supply chain, such as feed manufacturers and slaughterhouses, allowing for better production planning and reducing transport-related emissions.
With initiatives like this, the Catalan pig sector takes another step toward a smarter and more environmentally friendly production model, positioning itself as a benchmark in the application of digital technologies in livestock farming.
This project is funded under Intervention 7161 – Aid for the Implementation of Demonstration Projects of the European Innovation Partnership for Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability (EIP-Agri), within the framework of the Strategic Plan of the CAP 2023-2027.
